The systems development methods SSADM and MERISE are the de facto standard methods of the U.K. and France respectively, and as such will heavily influence the outcome of the current Euromethod programme, one of whose aims is to arrive at a standard framework for systems development for use by the governments within the European Community in the mid-1990s. This is intended to simplify the procurement of systems, to open up markets, to rationalise staff training and to assist in the movement of IT expertise. As a contribution to the aims of this programme, the present work looks at the structural (data) modelling part of both methods and compares them using an abstract framework, addressing questions such as method similarities and differences and the mapping between both methods.
